Wednesday December 23, 2015 2:07 pm

Unboxing Live 179: TiVo Bolt

TiVo is back with an all new DVR: TiVo Bolt! More of a side-grade than an upgrade from the TiVo Roamio Plus and Roamio Pro (see our TiVo Roamio Pro review), the TiVo Bolt is the first TiVo DVR to offer 4K UHD resolution. You can currently stream content from both Netflix and YouTube in 4K, with more to come soon (hopefully Amazon!)

The two other major features of the TiVo Bolt are QuickMode and SkipMode. With SkipMode, TiVo allows you to completely skip over blocks of commercials with the press of a button for prime time shows that air on the top 20 TV networks. QuickMode allows you to speed up your TV watching, playing the content at 1.3x the normal speed. Voices still sound as they should, but the show just plays a little faster, allowing you to get through them quicker.

The shape of the box is a bit odd, and the two-tone black and white remote is a departure as well, but the Bolt is faster and more responsive than any previous model. It can also record up to four shows at once.